We had a lovely day yesterday at my grandson's thanksgiving and birthday party. The weather was good so lots could happen outside. There were two paddling pools which were well used by the littlies and the slightly bigger kids played with other outdoor sit-on-and-ride or climb-on toys which had been borrowed from friends and from a toy library. A good time was had by all!

I think we are winning the war against the red mites. I am sooooo thankful! We have treated the last hen house now and also coated them all with wood preservative while we are at it. The rabbits' hutches have also been deepcleaned and treated with preservative. With them all being done at the same time, they all look very smart. We have spent a fair bit of money on it all, though, not to mention time and effort. I hate red mites! The animal housing would have been scrubbed and treated with wood preservative over the summer anyway but it has been a problem to do so much in so short a time with alternative clean and mite-free accomodation for each lot of hens and the rabbits. Anyway, job done. And we have just to respray the houses with the special liquid a couple of times more but that only requires the hens being moved out for a few hours at a time so won't take a lot of effort.

Now we have to tackle the allotment. I'm sure that by now we shall have a good stock of marrows rather than courgettes even though they hadn't grown very big before..... :)